The present invention generally relates to the field of computer systems for developing business applications; and, in particular, it relates to a system and computer-implemented method for providing access to host-based screen applications for the development of business-centric software components.
The software industry has seen great advances in distributed computing from both a client/server and software modeling perspective. The move towards network-centric computing, using the client/server architecture of the Internet, coupled with new software tools and component-based models, equip today""s software developer with a distributed, object-oriented, infrastructure that affords ease of access and manipulation of business data.
In the early nineties, as client-server computing emerged; more advanced software solutions introduced more intelligent links among clients and servers. Although it represents an improvement over earlier models, client-server computing still suffers from a number of drawbacks. For example, since information carried between clients and servers is usually transmitted over a proprietary protocol, each user tends to implement a closed solution, i.e., a solution that works only for the product of that user.
Earlier disclosed methods and systems for performing similar functions to that of the present invention are set forth in one or more of the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,149, entitled METHOD FOR GENERATING CODE FOR MODIFYING EVENT ROUTINES FOR CONTROLS ON A FORM; U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,430, entitled A METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY EMBEDDING OBJECTS STORED IN A WEB SERVER WITHIN HTML FOR DISPLAY BY A BROWSER; U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,936, entitled METHOD FOR EXTENDING THE HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML) TO SUPPORT A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE CONTROL PRESENTATION; U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,180, entitled A SYSTEM AND COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD FOR TRANSFORMING HOST-BASED SCREEN APPLICATIONS INTO COMPONENTS USEFUL IN DEVELOPING INTEGRATED BUSINESS-CENTRIC APPLICATIONS; and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,244, entitled A SYSTEM AND COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO HOST-BASED SCREEN APPLICATIONS USING BUSINESS-CENTRIC SOFTWARE COMPONENTS, all of which are assigned to the assignee hereof.
In the current scenario, distributed component-based development and enabling solutions are changing the way information is discovered, built, managed and delivered. Organizations are investing in component-based technologies because they cannot afford to ignore the reductions in costs that the new technology offers. As a method for delivering information to large numbers of end-users, the iterative process of building and deploying components are appealing when compared with the alternative of configuring every end-user system with application-specific client applications.
A reduction in the overall costs is just one benefit. Other benefits include access to larger amounts of enterprise information for connecting the organization, delivering solutions and keeping pace with end-user demands, and being able to take advantage of ever changing technology more effectively. Effective business processes require information, and the objective for the Information System (IS) organizations is to ensure that the required information is available when it is needed.
An example of a prior art method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,149, entitled METHOD FOR GENERATING CODE FOR MODIFYING EXISTING EVENT ROUTINES FOR CONTROLS ON A FORM, by Eugene Mutschler, et al, and assigned to the assignee hereof. This patent teaches a method for converting existing forms of legacy programs into a more modern and widely-used format. The present invention on the other hand, discloses and claims an improvement over what is taught in this patent by rendering those legacy forms into object oriented data format for use in any distributed object oriented business process development framework.
The present invention re-uses existing business assets in new component-based paradigms. It employs a method that enhances the efficiency of the current technology and reduces its drawbacks.
In accordance with the present invention a system is provided that reduces overall costs while efficiently accessing large amounts of enterprise information for connecting the organization, delivering solutions and keeping pace with end-user demands for ever-changing technology.
An advantage of the present invention is the use of component-based technology, which embraces the entire realm of an organization""s information infrastructure. Component-based technologies can take advantage of differing client platforms, diverse application environments and connectivity options.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system where organizations may re-use legacy screen-based application assets in component-based frameworks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that can discover legacy screen-based assets of an organization.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system that stores the legacy screen-based assets of an organization as specifications that can be used to generate components irrespective of the underlying middleware implementation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system that permits an organization to associate a legacy-based screen specification to a component-based implementation, which would otherwise not be possible.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that permits an organization to achieve levels of information enabling, through model-based development, which would otherwise not be possible.
Still other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive, and what is intended to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims. The present invention will become apparent when taken in conjunction with the following description and attached drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts, and which drawings form a part of this application.